To celebrate the end of Cryptid Summer, we held a quick contest to see which of you could create the best fake monster picture. After all, cryptid hunting is about awesome fakery as often as it is about finding a genuinely new species. All your entries were awesome (here you can see round one and round two of the entries). After much debate, and several impassioned emails from people who wanted us to vote one way or the other, we have declared David Sears the hands-down winner, with this cute/scary photoshopperie of his dog Peeka. Is it a bat-dog? A chupacabra? We're not sure, but we do know that it flies on leather wings in the night, and that's good enough for us.

All summer long, you've been chasing cryptids, or mystery animals, for our Cryptid Summer…
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David has kindly supplied us with a larger version of his winning entry - just click the image here to get one that you can turn into a wallpaper or frame on your wall.

We're also eagerly awaiting judgment from our expert panel on who will win our Cryptid Summer bounty, and should have an answer for you early next week! Which of these creatures (round one and round two) will take home the prize? All I can tell you right now is that it's a close race between a few finalists.